Emergency Department – aftERcare Program
The Emergency Departments (EDs) at Emory University Hospital (EUH) and Emory University Hospital Midtown (EUHM) instituted a process improvement project in 2009 entitled aftERcare. The purpose of the project is to improve the quality and safety of ED patients by ensuring that ancillary tests performed in the ED are tracked and appropriately acted on. The aim of this program is to follow up on 99.9997 percent (Six Sigma) of patients who leave the ED with pending test results, with the goal preventing adverse outcomes that might occur because those pending tests were not reviewed. aftERcare established collaboration between the EDs and the Radiology and Laboratory Departments using Emory Electronic Medical Records (EeMR) integration to capture pending results at discharge. Necessary follow-up is made by certified letters, telephone calls and contact with a patient's physician, as needed. At discharge, patients receive contact information if they need to call the ED for referrals, advice or test results. Future goals include automatic notification to primary care and specialties of their patients' visits to the ED.
The aftERcare program is spearheaded by Robin Hemphill, MD, MPH, director of Patient Safety & Quality for Emergency Medicine. The team also consists of Doug Lowery-North, MD, MPH, Vice Chairman of EHC Clinical Operations; Chief Associate Providers Antionette Ward, NP (EUH), and Barbara Swartzberg, DNP (EUHM); and Sarah Hilton, MSHS, Planning and Operations coordinator.
